Lower Burrell native Tom Squitieri remembered as a determined journalist and devoted father

Tom Squitieri, a veteran journalist who began his career at the Valley News Dispatch and became an award-winning foreign correspondent for top newspapers in the country, died Sept. 1, his family said.

Squitieri, a native of Lower Burrell, died in Washington, D.C., from an aggressive form of leukemia. He was 71.

"He was a reporter's dream," said Paul Hess of Natrona Heights, a longtime editor who left the Valley News Dispatch in 1987 after holding several positions, including executive editor. "He had great determination to get the story right. He was enthusiastic about every aspect of the reporting."

While Squitieri and Hess worked together decades ago, Hess said he never forgot Squitieri's first major feature for the newspaper. It was a story about an Upper Burrell man who played a folk instrument he called the "rattling bones."

"It was a brilliant story," Hess said. "To this day, we talk about the rattling bones."

Squitieri graduated in 1971 from Burrell High School, where he was senior class president.

"Though he traveled the world, including reporting in the Balkans War of the 1990s, he never forgot his Lower Burrell roots," said George Guido of Lower Burrell, who met Squitieri on the first day of first grade at Bon Air School. Guido is a longtime TribLive columnist and contributor. "He always made our class reunions and other get-togethers. He always asked how things were going back in our area and he, in fact, planned on moving back to Lower Burrell upon his retirement."

In a draft obituary Squitieri wrote himself, he described the influence of the Valley News Dispatch on his career. Squitieri cited the paper's editor, George Stuart, as a mentor who instilled the qualities of a good reporter, including being "a voice for the voiceless" and "to be the eyes and ears of the people who are not there."

"Mr. Stuart also instilled and reinforced in Mr. Squitieri that a reporter's creed is to be skeptical, to challenge authority — including those at newspapers where he worked — and always, always be curious," Squitieri wrote.

Veteran journalist Rick Monti of Natrona Heights worked alongside Squitieri as both a reporter and editor.

"I remember when he was named the Westmoreland County reporter, he was very apprehensive about leaving the newsroom," said Monti, now a Trib Total Media board trustee. "He showed up at my house, and I assured him he could do it. Little did we know he would go from Greensburg to covering stories all over the world."

Indeed, after leaving the Valley News Dispatch, his career as a foreign correspondent for USA Today took him to Panama, Iran, Iraq, Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, Haiti and many other countries. He spent 16 years at USA Today, where, in addition to war reporting, he wrote about scandals involving former President Bill Clinton and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

In 1993, he was recognized with the Raymond Clapper Memorial Award, the highest honor given by the White House Correspondents Association.

Squitieri also covered politics as the Washington-based correspondent for the Lowell Sun and the Boston Herald, according to his obituary.

Later in life, he worked in public relations, corporate communications and as a freelance journalist.

Diane Radwan of Mt. Lebanon, a cousin of Squitieri's, said the two became close as adults when she reached out to him after watching him on TV covering the Monica Lewinsky scandal. She described him as a devoted father to his children, Gabriella and Marco. Radwan said Squitieri found a new passion in writing poetry over the past several years.

"He just started writing little poems," she said. "He was very proud of his writing."

In addition to his children, Squitieri is survived by former wife, Cheryl Bruner, who was by his side during his final hours. He also is survived by a sister, Christina Scheib (Chuck) of Ocala, Fla.